No Slowdown of Global Warming, Agency Says

At first look, this article attracts readers by it's large picture of three people dressed as aliens in Copenhagen who seem to be protesting. This article begins to say that the past nine years have been the warmest years ever on record. The secretary general of the international weather agency, Michel Jarraud, states that the years 2000-2009 has been "warmer than the 1990's, which were warmer than the 1980's, and so on." Jarraud gos on to state that 2009 is recorded to be the fifth warmest year. Though this information is important, the real objective of the article is to inform readers about a 13 page document written by Denmark that included language calling for mechanisms opposed by poor countries for delivering aid to them to help deal with the impact of climate change. In defense, Danish officials claimed that this was in no way a new agreement, and was just an idea of discussion. It is believed that another document was also formed by Brazil, China, India and South Africa that rejected outside auditing of projects to reduce emissions financed by those countries on their own. In this article, the negotionator of Sudan, who spoke on behalf of 130 developing countries, brings up the argument that President Obama seems to be willing to spend trillions of dollars on Wall Street, yet does not show as much concern for the children of the most vulnerable countries that are struggling to live. In response to all this, the United States Environmental Protection Agency is trying to begin looking for a way to set a federal limit on emissions of carbon dioxide. So far, President Obama has promosed a 17% cut in emissions. In my own personal opinion, it seems that a federal limit is necessary in order to significantly cut emissions. Although I strongly feel a cut needs to be made, I do not see it as beneficial to minimize the amount of aid we are providing other countries. A new plan should be devised that could greatly limit the amount of emissions into the atmosphere while still helping starving countries.





http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09climate.html?scp=2&sq=global%20warming&st=cse